Shadow Song
by WriterJC
Summary: Voyager encounters a strange and evil baddie. She does some damage. This is a dark story, folks.


Shadow Song

* * *

By Jackee C.

Note: *Indicate mindspeak/telepathy*

He heard singing, human singing. He paused, a pruning tool held aloft in one hand, and examined the lilting echoes which echoed through his mind. The language was foreign, the words unknown but the voice was that of a child.

"Naomi. Naomi Wildman." He spoke the child's name aloud, though it was illogical that she would be in his quarters at such an hour. As his voice sounded, the singing ceased, as if waiting, listening. After several moments, he queried the computer, but there was no one in the room and no record of a recent transmission.

A prank, he decided, mentally naming possible perpetrators. But, as he wished to complete the process of grafting a new branch unto his miniature bonlia tree before morning shift, he pushed the incident aside. He had been nurturing the new branch for months, ever since he'd received the news of his new grand child and the window of opportunity for the process was short. If he ignored the pranksters, perhaps they would go away and seek amusement elsewhere.

Unfortunately, his decision to ignore the sounds did not bring an end to their intrusion. "Please discontinue," he spoke aloud. "I am busy." There was no change, and the lilting sounds were beginning to disturb his concentration which was required for such delicate work.

Placing his slotted spade on the table, he addressed the ship's systems. "Computer, locate Ensign Paris." A likely suspect.

"Ensign Paris is on deck 4, room 12C." the computer replied. Lt. Torres' quarters. Logic dictated that the half-Klingon would keep the errant Ensign Paris suitably occupied so that he would not have opportunity or inclination to become involved in such a ... stunt.

"Computer, discontinue program," he tried next.

"Cannot comply. There is no program running."

With a raised brow, Tuvok rose and headed out of his quarters. Perhaps it was time to take matters into his own hands. If he was to have peace with which to attend his familial tree representation, then it was necessary to find the offending individual or individuals and exact suitable punishment. He was certain that Commander Chakotay would be of assistance should a few reassignments to mess hall duty suddenly become necessary.

~*~

"Computer, end program," Chakotay spoke into the warm autumn night. In a blink, the lake and trees faded to the default grid that was the holodeck. A quick shake released some of the lingering dampness of his hair before he stepped barefoot into the dimly lit corridor and nearly collided with Commander Tuvok.

"Commander." The Vulcan offered a brief greeting. "I did not intend to disturb your recreation." Chakotay stifled a grin at the mild discomfort that crossed the Vulcan's features, before responding in kind.

"You weren't disturbing me. In fact I was on my way out--my time's up," he indicated the display window near the holodeck entrance. "Anything I can help you with?"

Tuvok made a gesture along the corridor and they set of together toward the turbo-lift. "It is my experience that you tend to be aware of most situations on board Voyager."

Chakotay wondered if that were a compliment. He took it as one. "Well, thank you, Tuvok. Although, on a ship this size, its hard to keep very many secrets."

"Indeed," Tuvok responded thoughtfully. "Were you aware of any recent. . . pranks planned by members of the crew?"

"A few," Chakotay admitted.

"Any that involve. . . singing?"

Chakotay did a double take and managed, just barely, to control his expression. "Uh. . . no, Tuvok. Can't say that I have."

By then the turbo-lift doors were opening on the command quarters level. "Thank you for your assistance, Commander." Tuvok said and remained on the lift.

"Good night, Tuvok," Chakotay stepped off the lift, chuckling softly as he continued along the corridor toward his quarters. He had a sneaking suspicion that by Alpha shift he would be processing a few 'special' requests from Tuvok.

When he reached Captain Janeway's quarters, he paused. Thoughts of Tuvok were being replaced by an image of Janeway, sitting at her desk, scrolling through an endless stream of reports. Where Tuvok was Vulcan to a fault. Kathryn Janeway was Starfleet to a fault, and she had absolutely no concept of what it meant to take care of herself. He'd have to help her with that.

"Chakotay to Janeway," he activated his combadge.

"Janeway here," she replied. "What is it, Commander?"

Not fooled by her brisk tone, Chakotay continued. "I was just wondering, Captain."

"Wondering what?" she asked when he didn't respond immediately.

"Wondering if you were planning on getting any sleep in the near future. It's highly underrated and is said to soothe even the savage beast."

"That's overrated," she corrected with a laugh. "And I thought it was music that soothes the savage beast. Both of which are irrelevant at the moment; I have far too much to do to go to sleep right now."

"I see. I'll be right over with the leola root milk." He smiled at her exclamation of feigned horror, and continued along into his quarters and began slipping out of the robe he'd worn out of the holo-deck. He preferred to swim without the impediment of clothing. He threw the robe across the bed and slipped first one leg and then the other into a pair of pajama bottoms.

"You'll have to --" Janeway's voice began across the link just as the ship lurched and everything went black.

Chakotay, caught with one leg half in his pants, fell helplessly into his bedside stand taking his medicine bundle, a picture and several PADDs with him. Within seconds the ship stabilized, leaving a bevy of alarms in its wake.

~*~

Janeway stared up into the eerie simultaneous red, yellow and blue alert lights for half a second before jumping to her feet. She tapped her combadge. "Janeway to Bridge." Nothing.

Navigating her way through the dim lighting toward her door, she found the corridor similarly lit. By the time she'd reached the turbolift the lighting was increasing from a dim yellow approaching standard brightness.

"Are you all right?" She asked Chakotay as he slipped into the turbolift before the doors slid closed. She could make out an angry red mark on his left cheek.

"Fine," he replied. "You should see the night stand."

"Report!" Janeway called as she strode out onto the bridge. Lighting levels had returned to normal, and all the consoles appeared to be lit. The view screen however was a flat gray bearing a Starfleet emblem in the top right corner.

"There was a disturbance that appears to have swept the entire EM spectrum and into subspace," Tuvok replied, interrupting her inspection. "It caused a reset of all systems. For 500 milliseconds Voyager went completely off-line."

She glanced over her shoulder as the turbolift doors opened again. Tom. "Do we know where this disturbance came from?" She turned back to Tuvok, briefly noting his native garb.

"Negative. As many of the systems were reset, and are currently in start up, we are unable to scan within or outside the ship. I estimate that Voyager's sensors and related systems will be back on line in 3 minutes 13 seconds."

Janeway nodded. "Good. When will the comm----"

"Engineering to Bridge."

"Nevermind," she told Tuvok. "B'Elanna. I hope you have good news."

"The warp engines are going through a complete restart, Captain. It'll be 45 minutes before we can go to warp, and 15 before impulse power is restored. I'm afraid we're dead in the water until then."

She'd figured as much. "Thank you, B'Elanna. Keep me apprised." For lack of anything to do for at least a few more minutes, she sank into her command chair came face to face with the gray screen. She sighed. "How about----?"

"It's coming up now, Captain," Chakotay said softly, sparing her a knowing glance as he continued the restart of the view screen as well as several other non-automated systems. The Starfleet emblem began to flash, and then vanished as the star field faded into view.

"Sensors are back on-line," Tuvok announced. "And...there is nothing to report. There is nothing out of the ordinary in the vicinity, and no vessels within scanner range. "

Janeway stood and moved to the science station. "Check back-up systems, see if there is anything that might give us an idea as to what happened or where that disturbance may have come from. And stand down red, yellow and blue alerts."

"Aye." Tuvok replied with only a slight raise of his brow.

Moving to Ops., she leaned over Harry's station. "Have you detected any residual effects from the disturbance?"

Harry punched in several keys and read the result before punching in several more. "No, ma'am, although several decks seem to be having trouble with internal lighting. Maintenance is doing manual reset. It could be a while."

Janeway nodded. From the looks of it, most of the problems were in living quarters. As it was something after midnight, judging from her portable chronometer--the main bridge chronometer was flashing a star date of 000001.0 at 0005 hours--most of those crew members would be trying to get back to sleep.

"Have you found anything on the back-up systems?" she returned to the science station.

"Only that the data from the last 24 hours is cached in the buffer. It appears to have been scrambled by the disturbance. Manual review will take approximately 4 hours and 52 minutes."

Wonderful. "Thank you, Tuvok. It looks like it'll be morning before we have any answers. All duty officers return to posts and hold position. I'll expect an update at 0800 hours."

Janeway and Chakotay were the last of the senior staff to leave the bridge. As it turned out, their quarters were among those affected by the lighting problems. Both were completely dark.

"At least you'll have to get some sleep, now." Chakotay grinned at her. "I couldn't have planned it better myself."

Janeway shot him a look. "Meet me for breakfast? We can discuss your leola milk threats."

Chakotay's grin deepened. "I wouldn't miss it. Good night, Kathryn."

"Good night, Chakotay."

~*~

~~_he world tunneled. Colors, light and sound flashed by impossibly fast as the rumble of his heart tripled; thumping and pounding to the rhythms of life. An urgency entered him; urgency to move forward, to go with the rhythms. It pulled at his body with the force of its longing._

_His body. He could feel it changing. With the first swift steps of his feet he felt it. Like standing in motion, moving yet not moving. His muscles stretched and pulled, fluid, strong. A hand lengthened and bent, legs sank into lower, tighter muscles, dark hair transformed. And then he was running._

_The colors coalesced into rushing trees and hills and he was a panther. Sleek muscles strained as he ran with the wind, past brush and jungle and stream. Hand and foot, now paw, pounded into the ground, tearing through the undergrowth into a clearing. A cliff appeared._

_Green grass gave way to dirt and rock and his body ran on. Fear entered his mind as the cliff drew nearer, looming ahead like a giant maw, dropping into the nothingness below._

_He ordered his body to slow, but a will not his own drove him ever forward. His mind fought frantically for a slowing of the pace, but there was no stopping. The wild body pushed forward, refusing to head any warnings of danger. Ever closer, the darkness beneath yawned. Only steps remained._

_A cry pierced the air, rising above the others. He looked up searching for the source, and realized *he* was the source. His paws ran out over nothingness and all stopped, the sounds, the colors, only the blowing of the wind remained. And then he fell..._

_...and the wind caught in his paws and he was a bird, soaring over a great valley. The valley was rich and green, teaming with life. His eyes pierced the green of the trees beneath and caught a flash of pale gold. He dove, gliding through the trees until the object came more fully into view. It was a child._

_"Hello," she said with the sound of many familiar voices. She reached a six-fingered hand toward him. He flapped his wings in a desperate move to back away, but he was caught. "Hello, Chakotay..."_ ~~

Chakotay's eyes snapped open.

"Janeway to Chakotay." The voice sounded again from his combadge. He sat up quickly, dragging the covers with him as he dove for the device.

"Chakotay here, Captain." He sat perched on the edge of the bed, hoping he didn't sound as breathless to her ears as he did to his own. His gaze froze on the chronometer at her next words.

"Err, Commander, are you sleeping?" Janeway asked. Her voice conveyed the same disbelief his expression did. It was 0743 hours. He was supposed to meet her for breakfast exactly seventeen minutes earlier.

With a muffled, "Just a --" He threw the covers back and lunged for his uniform, promptly falling over his boots. Janeway heard the crash from the opposite side of the door and she also got an interesting lesson in Indian swear words. Or at least she thought they were Indian swear words.

"Are you all right, Commander?" her voice sounded into the room from the general direction of his desk.

Chakotay found that his medicine bundle lay spilled on the floor near his bed. He frowned at its scattered contents, thinking that he must have knocked it off the night before during the black out. He quickly gathered up the objects and replaced them in their wrapping.

"Commander?" Janeway called again when he hadn't answered.

"Sorry, Captain. I'm fine... I just...." he replied, his voice muffled as he pulled the shirt over his head. "Come in."

Kathryn Janeway stepped into his quarters with what appeared to Chakotay to be mild trepidation. "Are you sure it's safe?" she joked, looking pointedly at his disarrayed visage.

He laughed at that. "I'm afraid you're going to have to define safe, Captain." Gesturing a hand toward the replicator he offered breakfast on his rations. "I'll be out in a minute."

Janeway watched him hurry from the room with a grin and ordered two coffees, both on her own rations. When he reappeared four minutes later looking the picture of the exemplary XO, she handed one of the cups to him.

He eyed her apologetically over the top. "I'm sorry I overslept like this, Captain. I don't normally..."

"I know, Chakotay," Janeway cut him off, dismissing the incident. Then added with a wicked grin, "It happens to the best of us, even those of us with internal clocks that *never* let us down."

Chakotay nearly choked on his final gulp of coffee. He was surprised she'd remembered his kidding her about internal clocks when they were on the planet they'd named 'New Earth'. He recovered quickly.

"My internal clock is now telling me that if we want to reach the briefing room on time we'd better get this show on the road."

"Agreed. But aren't you missing something?"

Chakotay caught her nod toward his chest with dismay. He only hesitated half a second before squatting and fishing his combadge from beneath his desk as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

~*~

Janeway glanced around at the assembled command staff, and then at her chronometer. It was two minutes past the starting hour for the morning briefing, and Commander Tuvok had not arrived. As the seconds ticked by the room dropped into an uncomfortable silence. This was an important meeting, she was sure Tuvok would not have forgotten.

"Commander, did Mr. Tuvok make any mention of a prior commitment?" she spoke softly to Chakotay at her right. Though she knew Tuvok would have told her himself, and of course Chakotay would have informed her had he known, she needed to check all the possibilities before she tried to contact him. That would be a very embarrassing situation to the Vulcan.

"No, Captain," Chakotay responded; he was just as concerned as she. This just wasn't like Tuvok.

"Janeway to -" Before she could finish, the doors slid open to admit the Vulcan, immaculately dressed as usual. But she could tell, Tuvok was a little frazzled around the edges. She would have to make it a point to speak to him after the briefing. And not just about his tardiness.

B'Elanna started with an update on Engineering's status. The warp engines and all of the ship's systems were back on-line with no residual effects from the disturbance.

"Was there anything to report from the review of the back-up?" Janeway directed her question toward Tuvok.

"We have been unable to determine the source of the signal, although we were able to establish a trajectory that suggests that it may have emanated from a star system 1.5 light years from our present position. If calculations are correct, the signal was the result of an explosion, or a forced blast..."

Janeway eyed Tuvok carefully as he spoke to the group. His expression was carefully closed, more so than usual. And he evaded her gaze until his report was complete. Their eyes locked momentarily, and then she gestured to Tom to set a course for the coordinates and adjourned the meeting. The odd phenomenon was worth investigating, especially since it had the power to incapacitate the ship, however briefly.

As the rest of the officers filed out of the room, she noticed that Tuvok remained seated. She waited until the ready room doors slid shut before speaking.

"Mr. Tuvok, is there something bothering you?" she asked. There had to be a deeper, underlying reason for his odd behavior. Tardiness aside, he'd barely said a word during the morning briefing; only speaking when spoken to, as the saying went.

"Captain," he began, in a uniquely Vulcan rendition of confusion. "I am at a loss to explain my behavior. I shall endeavor to ensure that it does not occur a second time."

"Tuvok, I can forgive tardiness once in your considerable lifetime," she smiled, though she knew he wouldn't see the humor. "What I'm concerned about is you, as a friend and a member of this crew. You're not yourself." She allowed her gaze to linger on his face, and caught a look of discomfort. There *was* something. "Would you tell me what it is? Off the record?"

Tuvok sat for a moment as if weighing his options. Finally he met her gaze. "I have been having...nightmares." He spoke the word as if it were an embarrassing illness; something one only whispered about.

"Nightmares?" she was almost confused for a moment. "How long?"

"Several times I have had the same nightmare. It is...greatly disturbing."

"Would you tell me about it?' she asked. "Perhaps I could help in some way."

"I do not think that you could help me. It is something that I must work through on my own." His usual Vulcan brusqueness was back.

"Okay. But would you share the dream with me, anyway?" she pressed.

Tuvok stared at her for a moment, and then a furrow appeared between his brow. "No. I cannot. Not at...this time."

"All right, Tuvok," she let him off the hook. For the moment. "Dismissed."

Chakotay returned to his quarters during his lunch hour. It had been a long morning, especially considering he felt as if he hadn't slept at all the night before. A nap would do him good, he decided. For once, Neelix and his chow would have to wait.

~~_he land tilted and shifted into hillside. A cool wind picked up, bringing with it a soft keening. He turned, fear creeping into his heart at the sound. The air stilled. The hair on the back of his neck prickled as every sense he'd been born with screamed danger. Run. A smell reached his nostrils. It smelled both burnt and sickly sweet at the same time. The thought of toasted marshmallows flitted briefly through his mind._

_A weight began in the center of his back. With the certainty of the hunted, he knew he was being watched. Glancing up he saw her. The girl. She screamed and pointed behind him. Spinning, he turned in time to see a large dark shadow, fangs barred, leaping toward him....~~_

Chakotay's eyes snapped open with a start. "Computer, lights!" he called, sitting up urgently. His heart still pounded from the remnants of an elusive fear. Throwing his legs over the side of the bed he moved toward the replicator and ordered water. Downing it in a quick gulp, he ordered another. The second he drank more slowly as he moved back toward his bedroom and sank unto the rumpled covers with a heavy sigh.

He hadn't had a nightmare like that in years, not since the Maquis; dreams that terrified him for no discernible reason. He couldn't even remember this one, yet the fear of it still clung to him.

There was still a quarter of an hour before he had to return to the bridge. In his present state, he'd be too jumpy to function efficiently. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply, attempting to center himself.

In a growing wave, a feeling of desolation swept him, nothing was as it should have been. . . Rising fear approached, and suddenly it was upon him, persistent, slamming against his psyche. Then he was in the corridor. Shadows approached, formless, sliding along the walls, through the walls, through him. Cold shadows. Then he saw her.

She was a child with six fingered hands. She reached for him. "Help me...please..." she pleaded. "Help me..." Despite his fear, he dropped to one knee and grabbed her small hand to his, glancing up and around, tracking the shadows that passed.

She was cold, so cold. Her body drew closer to him, drawing on his warmth. But she needed so much, more than he had to give. He gave a thought to resisting, but it was too late. He couldn't breathe. She was clinging...changing him. He was turning to shadow...

Chakotay's eyes snapped open. He blinked hard, attempting to clear the frightening image from his mind. Heart still pounding, he pushed himself to his feet and headed for deck one. There was no more time to gather his composure; duty beckoned, and he was late.

~*~

"What do you think you're doing?!" B'Elanna bellowed at a stunned Vorik as she marched across engineering to snatch a metallurgical analyzer from his hand.

Vorik turned sharply on the half-Klingon, then at the last moment seemed to catch himself. "I was doing routine maintenance on the back-up tri-cobalt storage containers."

"With this?!" B'Elanna asked incredulously, lifting the instrument for him to see. "You know better than to use this scanner on the tri-cobalt containers! If we ever needed to use them they would be at risk of a micro fissure!"

Vorik's eyes widened in surprise at the gravity of his error. "I...apologize, Lt. Torres. I am at a loss to understand why I picked up the incorrect device from the storage locker. I have not felt...myself lately."

B'Elanna eyed him with distrust for another second before turning away. "Well, take it to sickbay if you're sick. Just stay out of engineering until you get a clean bill of health from the EMH." This was the third mistake she'd caught Vorik in that afternoon. And baby-sitting was not in her job description.

Vorik stood where B'Elanna had left him for several moments before turning and slowly walking out of engineering.

As Chakotay stepped into her office, Kathryn took one look at him and offered him coffee. At his negative reply, she replenished her own cup from a small carafe on the corner of her desk. "Want to talk about it?" she asked, gesturing to a seat.

Chakotay offered a resigned grin before settling into the chair. "Am I so transparent?" he asked, a hint of feigned disappointment in his voice.

"No," Kathryn replied with a small smile. "But those dark circles beneath your eyes are telling it on the mountain."

"Pardon?"

Kathryn waved a hand and clarified. "You look tired."

"I am," Chakotay sighed. "It's just that I've been having these dreams. Nightmares..."

Kathryn sat up at that. In light of Tuvok's earlier admission, she was beginning to wonder if she might need to look deeper in this situation. Chakotay seemed to notice her sudden seriousness.

His eyes met hers. "Captain, I--"

"Emergency Medical Hologram to the Captain." The doctor's acerbic tones sounded across the communications link, interrupting whatever Chakotay might have said.

"Janeway here," she acknowledged, pulling a concerned glance away from her first officer.

"Captain, I think it would be a good idea if you'd come to sickbay." The doctor replied briskly.

"Is something wrong, Doctor?" she questioned, meeting Chakotay's eyes again, this time with another sort of worry.

"Of course something is wrong, Captain," he replied. "Although I'd prefer continuing this conversation in sickbay, the comlink will suffice. It seems irre-"

"Thank you, Doctor. I'm on my way," Janeway cut him off. Chakotay followed her out of the room.

~*~

Silence reigned on the bridge as Voyager continued along the distortion's calculated trajectory. An alert chime interrupted the silence. Ensigns Valera and Rathmin shared a look as the chime sounded a second time. Captain Janeway had requested to be informed when they were within range of the source of the mysterious signal. But as Tuvok had the bridge, it was his duty to alert the Captain. Unfortunately, Tuvok did not seem to have noticed the chime that signaled Voyager's proximity to the planet.

Valera, ignoring Rathmin's warning look, took the initiative after the third chime to speak up. "Commander Tuvok," she called.

"Thank you, Ensign," Tuvok replied, not raising his eyes from the console as he worked. "I assure you that I am aware of the alert chime."

"Aye." Valera responded, ego singed. Rathmin shot her a look that clearly said 'you should have known better'. She made a face at him and went back to work, but she continued to observe the Vulcan from the corner of her eye. In her opinion, it took the Commander much longer to analyze the sensor readings than any self-respecting Vulcan would have ever admitted to. She wondered.

~*~

"Ah, Captain, Commander," the Doctor acknowledged the presence of Voyager's commanding officers. "This way if you please."

Janeway and Chakotay shared a look as they followed the doctor into a side room. Vorik sat atop a bio-bed, eyes closed, obviously meditating.

The Doctor paused in front of the young Vulcan. "Captain, do you know how many telepathic crew members there are on board Voyager?"

Janeway shot Chakotay a look and folded her arms. "No. Being telepathic has never figured into any crew member's ability to get the job done. Why?"

"There are precisely six at least partially telepathic individuals on board, which is admittedly high for a crew of this size. Would you care to know the number of those individuals who have reported to sick-bay in the past eight hours?"

Janeway sighed. This was getting to be a little like pulling teeth. "Yes, Doctor, the point please?" He was bound to get there eventually, but she had other issues that needed to be dealt with and didn't have time for medical trivia.

"Five." He directed her eyes to a display bearing the names and likenesses of the individuals in question. "All have reported instances of confusion or disorientation. An inability to concentrate. Headaches. Two reported hearing voices..."

"Voices?" Janeway shared a look with Chakotay before turning back toward the Doctor. "What about dreams?"

"No one has mentioned dreams particularly," the Doctor said thoughtfully. "I will look into that. Are you aware of any such instances?"

Janeway waved the question away abruptly. "I'll trust whatever you discover, Doctor. Any symptoms among non-telepaths?"

"No," the Doctor replied, his tone bordering on disbelief that she hadn't known that he would have looked into that possibility. "However, all six telepathic crew members have unusually high neural peptide levels. That's the only link I've been able to make thus far. It's as if the telepathic centers of their brains are being stimulated."

"Are you suggesting that someone or some thing is trying to communicate telepathically with the crew?" Janeway asked, needing to determine the extent of the threat.

"Not necessarily, Captain. Although there is little in the Starfleet database concerning telepathy, there are numerous cases where latent abilities have been stimulated by certain drugs or even radio frequencies. As to whether there is a current source, further investigation is required."

"Is it possible that this morning's disturbance might be related?" Chakotay asked.

"Quite possible, Commander," the Doctor conceded, "And I have been pursuing that theory. The signal was extremely dense, and it will take some time to--"

"Tuvok to Captain Janeway."

"Janeway here."

"We are within sensor range of the flash point from which the disturbance emanated."

"I'm on my way," Janeway broke the comlink. "We may be getting close to some answers," she said. "Keep me apprised of your findings and I'll make the suggestion that the sixth telepathic crew member submit to an examination."

~*~

"The disturbance appears to have emanated from a class-M planetoid orbiting a red dwarf star," Tuvok announced as Captain and Commander breezed onto the bridge. "We are within hailing range."

"Open a channel," Janeway ordered moving to stand before the view screen pick-up. Thus far only a mildly impressive image of a dark planetoid orbiting a red star could be seen.

"There is no response." Valera called.

"Life signs?" Janeway asked, turning slightly.

"There *is* life on the planet, as well as signs of at least rudimentary technology. But sensors suggest that the life is either micro-scopic or weakening." Tuvok continued to scan the surface of the planetoid in search of any information that might help his Captain in determining her next move.

"E.T.A?"

"Three minutes, 47 seconds."

"No planetary satellites, no radio signals..." Janeway mulled quietly, then more loudly, "Chakotay, prepare a survey team--we'll keep a transporter lock on you. I want to know what's down there." She continued to gaze thoughtfully at the planet as Chakotay quickly selected his team and left the bridge.

~*~

A chill breeze settled over the away team as the transporter energies dissipated. The surrounding terrain was rough and dark. Obsidian rock extended unbroken toward distant snow-capped mountains. Streaked red-tipped clouds filled the sky, completely obscuring the stars. Yet the eerie glow of the planetoid's sun reflecting off of the moons managed to penetrate the cloud covering, lending an ethereal beauty to the place.

The group had beamed down facing outward, weapons drawn. When it quickly became evident that they were alone, they stored their weapons and set about the task of investigation. Chakotay answered the nearly immediate summons from Voyager, his breath showing white against the night air.

"Commander, could you speak up a bit?" he heard Janeway's slightly raised voice across the link. "We're having trouble picking you up."

Chakotay frowned, the link was as clear from his end. "Better?" he upped his volume, anyway.

"Actually, no," Janeway responded. He could hear her ordering Ensign Wildman, who'd replaced Kim at Ops to increase the volume. "What's your status?"

"We've arrived near what appears to be a mountain range. Thus far we haven't been able to detect any signs of life, sentient or otherwise. Shall we proceed with the survey?"

"Yes, for now," she responded. "Communications aren't what I'd like, and we've lost the transporter lock. I'm going to send down a shuttle. It should rendezvous with your team in approximately 20 minutes." She murmured a word toward Tom Paris. "In the meantime, try to determine what's interfering with our signals. Janeway out."

Chakotay looked out over the rugged landscape attempting to determine the relative position of the away team members. Ensign's Kim and Coffield were several meters to the right. Ensign Valera was quite a bit distant surveying something near to the ground. He called first to Kim and Coffield explaining their new objectives, then he headed toward Valera.

"What have you got there, Sharon?" he called as he approached the place where she sat haunched near the ground.

The young woman looked up over her shoulder. "I'm not sure, Commander. It's almost as if..." she shook her head, punching at a few buttons on her tri-corder. "There's something here that's *not* here." She frowned up at him, hoping he understood.

Chakotay stooped to ground level alongside her, sweeping the area with his tricorder as well. There was only a reading of the rock, several hundred meters thick. And then there was a flicker. He pressed a hold function and when the tricorder flickered again he caught it. A lake, or a large body of water, covering the entire area and toward the mountains, if his readings were correct. There, yet not there.

Chakotay frowned at his tricorder as he ran another reading along ground level. There was definitely something.... Suddenly, a cold chill ran the length of his spine and he gasped.

"Is something wrong, Commander?" Valera shot him a concerned look.

Chakotay shuddered. "I had a feeling that my grandfather used to tell me about. The feeling that someone just walked over my grave."

Sharon's look turned uneasy as she scanned the reddish horizon. "Yeah, I think I know what you mean. I just want to hurry and get this survey done. This place gives me the creeps." Standing, she moved further along the area to continue her scans.

Chakotay sniffed in agreement. There was something off kilter about that place, despite its odd beauty. Turning to follow Valera, he stopped short, certain that he'd seen something from the corner of his eye.

There it was again. A shadow flitted before him, dancing along just ahead of him. Slowly, carefully, Chakotay brought his tricorder upward and pointed it at the shadowy image. As he activated the scanning command, he began to feel a spot of coolness along the back of his neck.

Thinking that some of the planet's cool atmosphere had managed to penetrate the back of his uniform, he reached up to adjust his collar. He wasn't prepared to feel the icy solidity of a hand there.

~*~

Tom Paris carefully piloted the Sacajaweya IV into the planetoid's upper atmosphere. A thick layer of reddish clouds lay between him and the surface, and it looked like the shortest path to the away team would be through the thickest of them. Going around would add an additional seven minutes to his journey. Sensors didn't detect any obstacles, so he pointed the nose of the craft into the fluff.

He was nearly half through the worse, when the proximity alarms began. "What the...?" he murmured, eyes franticly searching the thick mists. Then the mists cleared completely.

There sitting near the center of the cloud was a large disk, perhaps half the size of Voyager. It looked as if the disk may once have sat neatly in the center, but its axis was skewed. One side dipped perilously into the cloud mass itself while the other remained in the clear.

Paris's mouth gaped at the sight. "Paris to Voyager," he tapped his combadge.

"Voyager here," rang along the link, at least settling his nerves. There was something...odd about the lop-sided disk. Something eerie that made his skin crawl, and he didn't mince words in letting the Captain know his feelings.

"Are there any signs of life?" Janeway asked after noting his discomfiture.

"None," he replied. "It's ... unnaturally...still, somehow. Shall I investigate?" He asked the question, but hoped like hell that she would say no. He got his wish. There were times when by the book regulations were a wonderful thing.

"Proceed to the rendezvous point with the away team. At that time, Commander Chakotay can lead a team to investigate the disk city. Perhaps it is the cause of our anomalous readings."

~*~

Chakotay spun, brushing off the shocking contact. In the moment of the spin, everything changed. He found himself face to face with an old, toothless, black-haired woman. She allowed her grimy hand to drop carelessly to her side before moving back among the milling crowd of grimy red faces. They all stared silently, emotionlessly at him as if they were waiting for something. Or someone.

Lowering his arms carefully, hoping that this was a gesture of non-aggression for this culture, he made a quick assessment of his person. All of his equipment was gone, and he appeared to be in a large cavern which had three tunnels leading off from one central room. A reddish glow emanated from each of the tunnels-not a gentle like the glow from the planet's sun, but harsh and cold. He had the uncomfortable sense that if he touched that light it would blister his flesh right off his bones. He could see no other means of escape.

Turning his attention back to his 'hosts', he was surprised to find another standing before him. One that was different than the other black-clad individuals. She was tall and lithe, dressed in brilliant, unrepentant red, not at all unlike the red glow. Her black eyes focused on him, beckoned him causing something small and primal and frightened to rise in his psyche. He had no time to examine the sensation though, as the woman began to speak. Her cold voice was deep and full, seeming to slither from her lips like poison.

"I know you," she said, twisting the word 'know' in such a way that a shiver ran the length of his spine because for a moment he was afraid that she might. "I know all of your secrets."

Chakotay swallowed, and a vague memory flickered through his mind. A forest and a bird. He pushed everything aside but duty. He was a Starfleet officer. He needed to act like one. "Hello," he managed. "I'm--"

"I know you," the woman repeated, taking a seducing step closer causing her black hair to shimmer in the dim light of the cave. "Yes," she drawled, evil anticipation coloring her features. "It's been a very long time. . ."

Ignoring her interruption, and the fear that her simple half sentence created in him, he continued on. "You may know me. But permit me to introduce myself. It's the way of our people. I'm Commander Chakotay, of the Federation Starship Voyager. We are on a mission of exploration, and were curious when a beam from your world hit our ship nearly two light years away. If you could just tell me how to--"

A deep rich laugh bubbled up from the woman's throat and she grabbed the collar of his uniform. Her eyes settled on him triumphantly. "You will be mine."

Suppressing his fear and anxiety was growing more difficult in such close proximity to this dark woman. Moving deliberately, he took a step back, attempting to remove her hand from his collar. Her fingers were cold steel, and she would not be moved.

"It is impolite in my culture to hold another against his will." Chakotay tried. "Please release me so that I can return to my friends."

The woman's eyes were beginning to change. Black swirled into red. "I am Sedja," she intoned. "Let them come. They will belong to me just as Chakotay of Voyager belongs to me."

"I don't--" Chakotay began to refute her statement. But she simply smiled, revealing perfect white teeth that seemed out of place in so much darkness.

The smile faded from her face as she focused in his eyes. Her lips parted as she breathed a cold breathe against his face. *I wish to see*, she spoke directly into his mind. *We wish to have you* Her mouth covered his and suddenly he knew what they wanted.

Suddenly Chakotay's fear knew no bounds. He struggled and fought, frantically trying to free himself, but there were too many hands, too many minds, too much pressure. He cried a helpless, terrified, "No," the never got passed the back of his throat as they knocked him to the ground.

Fingers and minds grabbed at the edges of his mind and his clothing, tearing and wounding in their urgency. His struggles grew fainter as the pressure became too much and his walls began to fracture. The demented zombie-like crowed pawed through his consciousness mauling his most secret thoughts and treasured places. Nothing was spared by the profaning darkness of the invaders. But worse were the things they left behind.

~*~

"Sacajaweya to Voyager."

Janeway was surprised to be hearing Tom's voice over the link. It had been thirty minutes since their last communication. Plenty of time for him to gather Chakotay and the away team. Something must have gone wrong.

"Janeway here," she replied, replacing all worry with the strong, competent voice of Voyager's most senior officer.

"Captain, we have a problem."

~*~

"Report, Ensign," Janeway approached the young woman who had been teamed with Commander Chakotay during the away mission.

Valera came to attention, despite her trembling. Janeway had never seen the woman so undone. Valera had always been a steady officer, which was why Chakotay had rotated her to Alpha shift bridge duty.

"At ease, Sharon," Janeway told her, her voice softening slightly. She needed to know why her first officer was lying on a bio-bed, curled in a fetal position, staring unseeingly at the far wall. And she needed to know why whatever had caused Chakotay's condition had so affected the young woman. If that meant softening a bit, then so be it. She gestured the woman toward a seat and settled across from her. "Now, tell me what happened."

Valera nodded, unclenching her fists as if with supreme effort. "Yes, Ma'am. We were scanning and started to get some odd readings. Commander Chakotay did a few scans of his own to verify. I was moving to another area to get a secondary scan when the Commander just started screaming." The young woman's brow furrowed, as if she were reliving the most horrible sounds she'd ever heard. "It just went on and on and on, and then he just... fell down. I couldn't wake him. He...he... stopped breathing, and that was when Paris arrived and resuscitated him. But he just... he wasn't the same. He wasn't... "

Janeway sat back slightly as Valera's voice dropped to a whisper. Wide shocked eyes met hers as the young woman finished speaking. "Chakotay's not there, Captain. It's his body, but Chakotay is not there."

Suppressing a shiver, Janeway turned toward the Doctor who'd been following the conversation. Uncharacteristically, he hadn't uttered a word. "Have you reached a hypothesis, Doctor?"

The hologram nodded solemnly. "Yes. Commander Chakotay seems to have withdrawn into himself. As he has always been a stable individual, it's unlikely that he would lapse into such a condition on his own. I've accessed the psychological database, but unfortunately, the prognosis isn't good unless we can discover what caused him to enter into this state and then assist in his return. Even in the unlikely circumstance of his coming out of this state spontaneously, he may require intense psychotherapy to cope with whatever brought him to this point."

"Have your scans indicated anything else? Anything out of the ordinary?" Janeway asked, mildly at a loss. She simply couldn't accept that her closest friend was this way and was going to remain this way. She had to do something.

"There was one thing," the Doctor said, moving toward the bio-bed upon which Chakotay lay. A look of frozen horror was etched across his features, making him appear as if his face were being replaced by some macabre mask. She wished again that the Doctor could give him something, if only to sedate him, close his eyes. But the Doctor had already explained that his system had already sustained too much shock. As the Doctor continued to respond to her question, she drew her gaze away from Chakotay's face, resisting the urge to at least soothe his clenched hands.

"There is evidence of elevated peptide levels, like I found in the telepathic crewmembers." Janeway froze on that. "Is it possible that someone is trying to communicate with him?"

"Past tense," the Doctor replied. "There is evidence that he may have had an elevated level. At the moment, his brain levels are at minimum. In essence, his thought patterns have almost completely shut down. I am continuing to run tests, Captain. But at the moment there is nothing I can do."

Janeway ran a hand along the side of her face, covering her mouth. What was she going to do? "Thank you, Doctor. Keep me apprised."

~*~

It was trapped, stuck in this mind; this mind that refused to leave the place he called the river. It could not reach him there. But It would. It had to if it was to be able to observe its surroundings. It would continue to search until it found the answers. Chakotay's pain fueled his search.

~*~

Tuvok observed Captain Janeway unobtrusively as he ran yet another scan of the planet's surface. The Doctor had requested a battery of unusual test scans, the last of which Tuvok was completing. And as it was far into beta shift, there was no need for the Captain to remain on the bridge. But Tuvok suspected that she needed to see this task completed, needed to solve the puzzle of what had happened to Commander Chakotay during the away mission.

As he entered the final parameter of the doctor's required tests, he considered the veracity of what he was about to suggest. The Captain, he knew, would not ask it of him because of the intense personal nature of the procedure-and the extreme risk. But he could offer, and would. Logic dictated that a mind meld was a viable option, as well as a necessary solution. As the Doctor had warned, the longer the Commander remained in his present state, the greater the odds that he would not recover. The loss of Voyager's first officer would damage more than just the crew. Its Captain would suffer greatly as well.

Reviewing the results of the EMH's completed tests and finding nothing of note, he uploaded a copy of the results to the Doctor's personal memory area. He then stepped away from his post and approached the Captain.

~*~

"I object, Captain!" That the Doctor thought little of Tuvok's planned mind-meld was obvious to anyone who was within hearing range. Janeway wondered briefly whether the impassioned response was programmed or a part of the developing personality that was a part of Voyager's EMH. And though she'd felt the same way when Tuvok had initially made the suggestion, his logical arguments--many in conjunction with her own internal ones--had won out.

"I would agree with you, Doctor," she told the EMH, her words soothing his holographic ego. "But," she added pointedly, "Chakotay's mind is the only place where we can find the answers to our questions, and possibly retrieve him. Use any medical device you like to monitor the process."

"He could end up in the same condition as Commander Chakotay," the Doctor added as a last ditch effort to convince the Captain of her folly.

"Unlikely," Tuvok spoke up. "The state in which Commander Chakotay is currently trapped is a purely emotional defensive reaction to stimuli that his human mind could not accept. The Vulcan mind is much stronger and has been conditioned _against_ purely emotional responses."

The Doctor sighed. "I don't know why I bother, when you insist on going against perfectly good advice..." he continued to ramble on as he gathered his medical instruments. Were the situation not so dire in Janeway's mind, she might have found the situation amusing. Unfortunately, she was having second thoughts about allowing Tuvok to perform the mind-meld. Despite all of Tuvok's logic, it _was _dangerous. It was also logical and necessary.

Tuvok stepped to the side of Chakotay's bio-bed as the Doctor finished attaching monitors to both officers' temples. Then, with a resigned look, the EMH stepped slightly away.

~*~

"My mind to your mind. . . My thoughts to your thoughts. . ."

Tuvok was stunned at the ease with which he penetrated Commander Chakotay's mind, and wondered if it were a result of the catatonic state in which he had fallen. It had been his experience that human minds contained a barrier that first had to be breached. There was no such obstruction in Commander Chakotay's mind.

As he slipped in a feeling of coldness assaulted him, and he felt an anguished sigh as if his very presence caused great pain. Proceeding with care, being as gentle as possible he sorted through Commander Chakotay's levels of consciousness. All were alarmingly faint, vague, as if they had been inactive for a long time and were becoming degraded. All the areas where he expected to find memories and surface thought were ravaged, torn as if ripped from the Commander's psyche. He had no sense of Chakotay, only a deepening, wearying cold that was beginning to leach into his own mind. There was nothing that could explain what had happened to have left the Commander's mind in such a state.

Casting his mind out further, searching now for any sign of the essence that he'd come to know as Chakotay, Tuvok drew deeply upon his own power reserves. It was then that he caught a glimmer of something buried so deeply in Chakotay's psyche that he almost missed it, something dark and ominous. And there was no way he could reach it without exerting some pressure.

Gathering his strength, he uttered a few words to center himself, helping him to refocus on the cord that would lead back to the sanctity of his own mind. And then he was in, and the pain exploded in his head as a chaotic rush of events nearly overwhelmed him. Fighting for purchase, he sought the Commander and found him huddled trembling in a dark patch, clinging to a vine amidst of maelstrom of darkness and horror. His body was broken and bleeding, and anguish defined his every feature. Only the vine seemed to be holding him steady.

Tuvok reached for the Commander, beckoning to him. Chakotay shook his head and huddled deeper continuing to focus on something in the distance. Tuvok tried again, urging him to follow, but Chakotay remained fixated on the object.

Tuvok turned and followed Chakotay's gaze. When he did, he saw a river with flowers growing along its banks. The river's waters flowed a gentle placid blue stretching into the distance, giving life to trees further along the way. The river seemed to give the commander peace.

Tuvok gazed again at the placid blue waters, and suddenly he knew what this river represented. He knew why the Commander had retreated to this place for solace. But this was an illusion--it could not save him. He needed to help him to come out and quickly so that they might be able to repair the damage.

*You cannot safely remain here* Tuvok tried to warn him of the things that the Doctor had predicted, but Chakotay shook his head, clinging to the image of the river.

*If I look at the river, she can't hurt me* he said in a small frightened voice, refusing to release his grip on the vine. Tuvok digested the reference, wondering if the Commander had encountered some kind of malevolent entity on the planet. That might explain what he had seen in the Commander's mind.

*I am here to assist you* Tuvok told him. *I will help you to leave this place, and then you will be safe among the crew of Voyager*

*No* Chakotay shook his head, squeezing his eyes tightly shut.

*You must. The Captain is waiting for you.*

*Kathryn?* Chakotay's attention flickered slightly from the river. He slowly turned his head and focused on Tuvok. Tuvok felt as if he were gazing into a whirlwind. Then, Chakotay's focus changed and he froze, abject terror defined his being.

Tuvok could feel the darkness even before he changed his focus. They were not alone. He turned and saw what Chakotay was perceiving as a tall woman dressed in dark clothing. Tuvok felt the dread that washed over the Commander at the woman's lascivious glare. She morphed into a sharp-fanged beast and licked at her chops. "There you are," she hissed. And then with a high-pitched shriek, she dove at the huddled human.

Tuvok stepped in her path, absorbing the brunt of her attack, striking back with a mental power of his own. In an enveloping motion, he grasped her and drew her away from Commander Chakotay. In a blinding crackle of darkness he broke the mind meld, hearing his own voice as he cried out.

~*~

Chakotay's body arched as he drew in a gasping breath. Oxygen coursed through his veins, pounded in his ears, rumbled in his heart reminding him in no uncertain terms that he was indeed remarkably, painfully, alive. Adrenaline pumped through him as well, sending him next into a sitting and then standing position. In defensive mode, he took in the scene around him. Sick bay.

Captain Janeway was gazing at him with wide eyes as she tried to urge him back unto the bio-bed. Her words were drowned out by the rushing of his blood, and by sudden flashes of memory reasserting itself. Turning unsteadily, he met Tuvok's eyes across the top of the bio-bed.

"See. Your river." And in Chakotay's mind's eye, Tuvok smile an evil lascivious grin. Frantic, he turned to Janeway, beseeching her. But his body failed him. He could not maintain his tenuous grasp on consciousness any longer. With a defeated whimper, he gave in to the darkness.

~*~

Seven walked briskly along the command quarters level corridor, quickly tapping a series of commands into a portable analyzer. Unusual readings had been detected in junction box 2T47. It was her objective to determine the cause of the anomaly. Though it was not quite time for Alpha shift, most of the engineering staff were busy attempting to determine the cause of a core failure in one of Voyager's nacelles. The ship had not been able to break orbit with the planetoid. Seven herself had been busy assisting, until she'd detected the odd reading and so decided to investigate it on her own as her shift was long over.

A soft whispering sound caused her steps to slow. Turning, she scanned the corridor, searching for the individual who might have been speaking. There was no one. Turning again toward her goal, she was again brought up short by the whispering. She took several careful steps forward, finding that the volume increased with each movement foreword. It wasn't coming from the same place as the strange reading, but she was curious nonetheless.

It was necessary to increase her auditory acuity to maximum before she could truly focus her mind on the sound. Thus the sudden sliding whisk of Captain Janeway's door sent her auditory network into overload. She flinched and cried out, dropping her padd to the floor.

Captain Janeway was immediately at her side, asking if she were all right. Seven assured her that she was well, and explained that she had been extending her auditory senses in order to discover the source of what she'd discovered to be singing.

"Singing?" Janeway looked at her oddly. "What kind of singing?"

"A... Like a child's singing," Seven explained. "At first I thought that it might have been Naomi Wildman, but it is too early for her to be out of bed, and the words were not of a language that I have ever encountered."

"Well, do you still hear it?" Janeway seemed genuinely curious.

Seven paused to increase her auditory senses again. "Yes," she affirmed. "The singing is still present. I believe it is coming from Commander Chakotay's quarters."

Janeway looked thoughtful. "Computer: Locate the source of that sound."

"Please specify," was the computer's useless response.

"Please identify the source of the singing that is emanating from Commander Chakotay's quarters."

"Unable to identify. Sensors detect no singing or musical components emanating from Commander Chakotay's quarters."

Janeway's expression hardened, and she turned to face the door in question. "Computer: Emergency Override. . ."

The doors slid opened and the two women stepped into the room. Seven moved slowly among the Commander's things in search of the source of the sound. She had never been into his quarters and she was unsurprised at the touches of Native American art that decorated the area. It wasn't until she reached his bed, slightly rumpled as if he'd rested atop the covers, that the sound of the singing peaked.

"Here." She pointed toward a small bundle, wrapped with what appeared to be animal skin.

"That's Chakotay's medicine bundle," Janeway murmured, a frown marring her features. "Why would..." Almost reverently, she picked up the object and carefully unwound the skins, revealing an odd array of items. Seven immediately focused on a small square electrical device.

"This is where the singing is coming from." She pointed to the box.

Janeway searched her gaze for a moment and then carried the item out of the room. "Let's get it to sick bay."

~*~

Tuvok sat in his quarters, haunched over his console, frantically typing into his keypad. He brushed a hand at his ear, again attempting to block the sounds of that damned singing. It weakened him--but only slightly. The old curse wasn't strong enough to contain him here. Here he could win. With a evil leer he went back to his task. This mind, Tuvok, had been highly useful, much stronger than the mind of Chakotay.

A sudden sound in the hallway brought his fingers to a halt. He heard a discussion. The one this body's host identified as Seven was speaking with _HER _As he listened, he found himself smiling, satisfied at the sharpness of this ones senses. Though he'd dearly wanted the Chakotay entity, this one was superb and much more cooperative to his will. This one would be very useful in breaking the Chakotay entity one way or the other. His fear for _HER _would be a wonderful weapon. But for now, he had other matters to attend. Seven and _HER _were about to discover one of his secrets. He couldn't allow that. As they exited Chakotay's quarters, he made ready to put his plan into motion.

~*~

~~_Chakotay was in the corridor, bound and tied to one of the ship's supports. His heart pounded with helplessness and anxiety for her knew that the beast was stalking him. He could feel its hot breath as it neared, and smell the noxious odor that herald its presence. It whispered his name, and laughed at its own cunning. "All mine," it hissed. "They will be all mine. And then I will break you."_

_With those words it loosed the visions. Cold. Darkness. And then the river. "Her first," it said, directly into his mind along with an image of Kathryn, standing alone and solemn by the placidly moving waters. "She will be mine. First. You will be my helper."_

_Suddenly, a paw with razor sharp claws appeared and slashed at Kathryn. Terrified, she tried to avoid the jagged flanges. She cried out a name, by Chakotay could not understand what she was saying. He only knew that she could not prevail for she was so small, and the creature was so large and so powerful and so evil._

_Chakotay fought will all of his being to break free of the bounds that held him. But they would not loosen. They would not come undone. He cried out in his anguish, begged, pleaded and then the river began to softly sing. It's words poured over him and into him, healing him, soothing his wounds. He became the tiger. And then he was running, and he grew the wings of the eagle. The image below him froze. All stopped and the six-fingered girl was there and she was singing. She opened her eyes and spoke his name._

_"Fear is the little killer. Death is the lie. Love is the life giver. You are more powerful than you know."~~_

Chakotay opened his eyes. Above was the ceiling, and in the outer room he could hear the sound of voices. But in the background, and in his mind, he could hear the singing. It was a child's voice, and she was singing for him. The words were familiar.

***_Fear is the little killer. Death is the lie. Love is the life giver. You are more powerful than you know._***

Accepting the words, he tuned in the other conversation. It was the Captain and Seven, and they were talking with the Doctor. Something about his akuna singing. He almost smiled with he realized that the girl must have been able to link with him somehow through the workings of his akuna. That would certainly have explained the odd dreams he'd been having lately. He wondered if proximity was also a factor as the earlier dreams had occurred when the akuna was at his bed side. The most recent must have occurred right there in sick-bay.

As if by merely thinking the questions, he had asked them in some way. The girl's song changed, answering him.

_***Your word speaks rightly. Remember the saying: Your love is a river. And mine is a dam. But the dam is now broken, and the evil expands. Evil approaches.***_

Chakotay frowned, pushing himself into a sitting position. Every conceivable part of his body ached in some way, as if he'd been thrown from a mountain or battered in a wind storm and the weight of physical exhaustion clung to him. But his mind was clear, even if he wasn't entirely sure what it was that the voice was telling him. He knew that some how Voyager was in trouble.

Easing slowly to the floor, he made his way toward the main area of sick bay where Seven was insisting that she still heard singing and was attempting a fair rendition while the Doctor and the Captain continued to look puzzled.

"Someone is trying to communicate with us, Captain," he managed from the doorway, his voice not much above a whisper.

Janeway came quickly to his side, lending her support. "Can you understand what they're trying to communicate?" she asked.

A flood of emotion washed over him as he looked at her. This was his Kathryn, Master of her domain. "I love you," he said, the words spilling from him of their own volition.

"What?" she backed away from him as if he were some space anomaly come to life on her vessel. Even the Doctor and Seven seemed taken aback.

Chakotay shook his head, dizziness overcoming him and felt himself beginning to sink slowly toward the floor. The Doctor's holographic reflexes caught him, making his descent a more gentle one. He leaned wearily against the inside wall.

"I'll just give him--"

"No," Chakotay insisted. "I need a stimulant, Doctor." Then to Janeway, "I'm sorry, Ka--Captain. The song is affecting me more than I thought."

"You can hear it, too?" Janeway asked, still keeping her distance. Her eyes were slightly widened, vulnerable.

"Yes," Chakotay told her, struggling to remain conscious. "I need that stimulant," he told her, pleadingly. "I have to stay awake."

Janeway nodded at the Doctor, and he continued. "The song," he said, breathing a sigh of relief as the contents of the hypospray flooded his system. "It's a warning. And Tuvok's not himself--" Suddenly the Doctor vanished, his mobile emitter falling to the floor. In the next second, sick-bay's door slid opened.

~*~

Ensign Sharon Valera stepped unto the bridge for duty. She was surprised to find that the Captain wasn't present. Neither was Tuvok or Chakotay. Odd. Sure she was early, but this was ridiculous.

"Where is everyone?" she asked Lt. Graves who was night shift acting Captain.

"Got me," he shrugged. "I guess the top brass are kicking back a bit. Maybe you should take a hint."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Any news on Commander Chakotay?"

"Nothing that they told us pee-ons about," was Grave's noncommittal response. "I get bridge duty maybe once a year--probably just to keep me certified. You don't really think they're going to let me in on any information do you?"

"You know, if you took your responsibilities more seriously you'd have bridge duty more often." Sharon told him in a low voice.

Graves eyed her doubtfully. Then, "Whatever." Moving back toward the command arena, he turned formally toward her. "Ensign Graves, you have the bridge." As he passed her he continued more softly. "My yearly stint is up. It's back to the bowels for me."

Sharon didn't grace his comment with a reply. She could not understand people like Graves; everyone else was to blame for their faults. The turbo-lift doors opened to admit Graves, but Ensign Vorik, Lt. Masig and Crewman Tuma were standing there blocking his path. She noticed immediately that something was wrong.

"Rough night?" Graves asked sarcastically of the Vulcan, oblivious to the gravity of the situation. For once, Sharon though, his sarcasm and general bad attitude came in handy: It allowed her time to move closer to the phaser locker.

~*~

The voice sang a warning, and Chakotay huddled around the side of the wall, remaining out of sight of the new entries into sick bay. Moving quietly to his feet, he moved to a console as the voice had directed. A few commands activated the transporter, and set the timer.

While he worked, he could hear a conversation taking place between the Captain and Tuvok and two of his security staff. The inflection in Tuvok's voice grated along his nerve endings, reminding him painfully of his encounter with Sedja on the planet below and the dream that he had been having earlier in sick bay. Would it come true? Would Sedja kill Kathryn? Already he could feel the fear rising.

*Fear is the little killer* He heard the words of the song echoing through him. *Fear is the little killer* He fought to suppress his responses. *Death is the lie. Death is the lie* Schooling his features, he stepped into sick bay. Fifteen seconds.

"Hello," the face belonged to Tuvok, but the words and the motions were all Sedja. He held Seven and Janeway captive, two compression phaser rifles set to kill aimed in their direction. "I knew you'd come out for your river." The lascivious grin was back. "I'll have the both of you."

Chakotay struggled against his fear and edged closer. He'd seen his akuna on the Doctor's examination pod. Kathryn and Seven were standing in front of it. If he could just reached them. . . Nine seconds.

Sedja/Tuvok looked suspicious. "You're up to something my little Chakotay," she spoke petulantly. "I like that. How's about a kiss? For old times sake?" Five seconds.

Chakotay couldn't resist the shudder that shot through him at even the partial memory of what that woman's 'lips' had done to him. He fought to avoid telegraphing what he was about to do by his body's motions.

"Oh. I guess not," Sedja/Tuvok's voice hardened. "I'll have to find another." With a frighteningly fast motion, Tuvok sprang at the Captain and grasped her temples. One of the security officers had incapacitated Seven with the butt of his phaser rifle. Chakotay felt as Sedja's mental tentacles penetrated into Kathryn's mind. Horror practically overwhelmed him as Tuvok/Sedja's mouth moved closer to Kathryn's. As her body slackened in Tuvok/Sedja's grasp, Chakotay nearly forgot his purpose.

*Death is the lie!" the girl sang in an impossibly soft voice. *Death is the lie! Your love is the river. Mine is the dam! Repair the dam!* Chakotay didn't want to leave Kathryn. He could not sacrifice her to this. *Death is the lie!* the song repeated. *Jump!*

Chakotay jumped for the akuna just as the transporter's energies enveloped him.

~*~

Sharon Valera stood over the unconscious bodies of Vorik and Tuma, while Rathmin stood over Masig. Before she could tap her combadge to alert security, Commander Chakotay materialized on the bridge, and fell to the floor. He looked as if he'd been diving when he'd transported, and he was still dressed in sick-bay attire.

Expression haggard, as if something unthinkably horrible had occurred, he straightened, shoving the emotion aside and took in his surroundings. "It seems you've taken care of some necessary business," he said, offering an encouraging almost-smile, before ordering a force-field around sick bay.

At that moment, the turbo-lift doors opened again to admit Harry and Tom. Both stopped in their tracks. "I miss something?" Tom spoke first.

"Not quite," Chakotay told him. Quickly directing the removal of the three crew members from the bridge, he ordered Tom, B'Elanna and Sharon to the 'dam', the city disk to repair its failing systems. Harry was given the bridge.

"It should be a simple repair," he told B'Elanna over the comlink to Engineering. "Ensign Valera should be able to help out. But I don't want you to activate it until I tell you."

"How will we know how to activate it," Tom asked.

"You'll know," Chakotay assured him. With that, he sent them on their way. Sharon didn't think she'd ever seen Chakotay talk so quickly, so urgently. The entire assignment process had taken less than a minute.

~*~

Chakotay had explained to Harry exactly what he needed to do before he'd left for sick bay. He now stood outside of the room. Gently touching his akuna, he began to say the words. "Achoocheemoya. . ."

The words faded and the sound of the song rang clearly through him as if suddenly distortion had been removed. The little six-fingered girl appeared before him. He reached a hand toward her, taking her small hand in his.

The warmth of his hands was seeping into hers, giving her strength. With a sigh, she began to speak.

"My name is Ydia," she told him in a soft innocent voice. "I apologize for what has happened to your people. I tried to warn you, but few could hear my songs. No others could understand. Why is your mind different."

"I suspect because I use the akuna often in my meditations. I am much more open to the metaphysical than more fellow crew members."

Ydia nodded. "Yes, perhaps that is true."

Chakotay sighed and looked along the empty corridor in which they stood. This was the Voyager of his mind's eye. "I need to save Kathryn and Tuvok, Ydia."

"I know this," she said. "In order to save Kathryn, you must save Tuvok."

"How can I do that?" Chakotay asked. "Sedja has him."

"You must tell him what you know. What you have. He has it, too."

"What do I know? What do we have?" Chakotay was confused.

"Fear is the little killer. Death is the lie. Love is the river, and your greatest weapon. It makes you very powerful."

"I don't understand," Chakotay said.

"Kathryn is your river, your peace. Your love for her will protect you from Sedja. She can not breach it. She has no defense against it."

"Ydia, perhaps you don't understand. Tuvok is a Vulcan. His people spend their entire lives suppressing emotion."

"Suppression does not preclude existence." Ydia took his hand and walked him along the corridor and suddenly they were in front of a familiar set of doors. They stepped through.

Tuvok's quarters were dim, and spartan as was the Vulcan's custom. Ydia led Chakotay to a low table with a pair of pruning sheers sitting near. A small branch had been propagated in a growing solution. "Tuvok's love is for his family, and for his unseen grandchild. Tuvok also sees your Kathryn as part of his family. He loves her as you do, but differently."

Suddenly Chakotay saw and understood the things that Ydia was trying to tell him. She vanished, and he found himself outside of the doors to sick-bay.

~*~

B'Elanna Torres stepped out of the shuttle craft into a rather lopsided docking back onboard the city disk. This planet had to rank right up there with demon class planets for creepiness. Sharon Valera and Tom Paris followed her out of the shuttle. All three immediately began to scan for an entrance into the main part of the city.

As they approached a wall, a formerly seamless section whirled and the silvery metal disappeared to reveal a circular opening. They all stepped through. What greeted them was an a vast amount of circuitry covering every available inch of space as far as the eye, both human and Klingon could see.

"Chakotay say's we're supposed to fix this?" Tom said in askance. "Where are we supposed to start."

Sharon Valera looked up with a grin from her tricorder. "For something that is there, and yet not there." She displayed the results for them all to see.

B'Elanna gazed at the readout and then grinned at the simplicity of it all. A dual holographic network. Tuning her tri-corder to a beam that dissipated the effects, she led the group to the control center. The repairs took less than ten minutes. Task complete, she contacted Harry from the city disk's own communications panel.

~*~

Chakotay took a deep breath and stepped through the walls of sickbay, into Sedja/Tuvok's mind. It was that dark, horrible cavern that he'd remembered from the planet. It was still cold, but the crowd was not present. He saw only Sedja, leaning over the form of a sleeping Tuvok, taking something from him.

She stood and spun at his entrance. Her anger was a physical thing as she flung every vile and twisted memory that she could conjure at him. Chakotay stood and blithely took it all. His weapons were of love, memories of Kathryn, smiling, laughing, teasing, even crying. He loved all those things about her. He shared them all with Tuvok who was beginning to stir. With each memory, Sedja shrunk and faded, growing smaller and smaller. But he needed more. He was running out of energy, he could feel that his time was fast running out.

As he watched her, now half-sized, she turned to something in the distance. It was Kathryn. She seemed horribly vulnerable, lying helpless on parched ground.

*Leave now, or she dies,* Sedja warned. *I can kill her, you know. I've already killed you, but they resuscitated you. There's no one here to resuscitate her.*

*Death is the lie,* Chakotay repeated, sending loving memories toward Kathryn. She seemed to be gaining strength, but still she did not awaken. The ground beneath her though began to change. But he knew he didn't have the strength to give to them both. He had to choose.

*I'll kill her!* Sedja insisted. She moved ominously toward Kathryn. Chakotay's instinct was to run to Kathryn, to protect her. But Ydia had said that to save Kathryn, he must save Tuvok.

Making his decision, he moved closer to the Vulcan, turning his face away from Sedja. Grasping the Vulcan, he thought of the river and the little bonlia tree in his quarters. Tuvok was beginning to move in earnest now, and as he did, Chakotay got a glimpse of a river in Tuvok's mind. It flowed beautifully, and had many branches. A beautiful Vulcan woman stood along side it, and she was talking to Kathryn Janeway. Around and about them were younger Vulcan's and even an infant as well as several individuals that Chakotay could not identify. He was stunned at the depth of love that Tuvok felt toward them all. Then, suddenly, the vision was cut off from him.

Tuvok focused on him. *Thank you* he said in a small, weak voice.

*Don't thank me yet* Chakotay managed. *We have to get rid of Sedja. We only have one wea--*

*I know* Tuvok managed. *The song is now clear to me*

Sedja did not stand a chance.

~*~

"You know, I think this is a prison world," B'Elanna said, studying the consoles in the city ship. Whatever this species is, it exists cross-dimensionally. This. . .device, traps them here."

"Interesting take on confinement," Tom said, eyeing one of the consoles. "I mean, can't they make it not look so dark and eerie, and so red?"

"I wonder what this place looks like without all the cross-dimensional shifting going on?" Sharon wondered aloud.

"Me, too," B'Elanna said. "I think I know a way to find out--"

"No," a voice spoke. All three officers turned at the sound. A small child stood in the center of the room.

"Thank you for repairing the dam. And you are correct in your assumptions, but you may not see this world as it really is. Please thank Chakotay and Tuvok for assisting in the capture of our escaped prisoner. Our people will not forget what they have done."

B'Elanna nodded. "We will."

The girl smiled. "Good-bye. The city has activated itself. And now you must go."

As soon as the shuttle departed the docking bay, the city disk vanished, along with the planet. Sensors could only sporadically detect the planet. It was there, yet not there.

~*~

Chakotay opened his eyes, and found himself again staring at the sick bay ceiling. Before he moved further, he assessed his physical condition. Nothing ached, which could only be a good thing. And he couldn't recall any strange dreams--also good. Apparently all was well. A sound to his left caused him to turn.

"Commander," Tuvok greeted him.

"Tuvok," Chakotay smiled slightly. Well, almost all.

"I trust you are feeling better," the Vulcan stated.

"Oh, definitely," Chakotay told him. "How long have I been here?"

"Two days, 7 hours and 22 minutes."

Chakotay's brows raised. Well that certainly explained why he was hungry.

"You were able to defeat the malevolent entity which attacked you on the planet. Ydia sends the thanks of her people."

"With your help," Chakotay inserted. "I could not have done it without you."

Tuvok didn't seem to have a response for that one. "I am to ask if you have any residual memories of any of the incidences of mental contact with Sedja."

Chakotay leaned back and thought for a bit. "I remember some things," he said. "But I think that most are fading."

Tuvok nodded, seeming to be content with that and prepared to take his leave. Chakotay hated to burst his bubble. "I don't know why," he said. "But I'd always assumed that Vulcan's did not feel deep emotions. What I saw and felt that you feel toward those you hold dear was humbling."

Tuvok paused. "We are not so much emotionless, Commander as. . . controlled. Emotion has its place. Though your love toward. . . one that you love is more obvious, can you say that it is not as controlled?"

Tuvok definitely had a point. Chakotay nodded, conceding the point. Tuvok nodded in response and turned away, and then as if thinking the better of it, turned back.

"I am to complete the grafting process of my bonlia tree tonight, Commander. Would you care to assist?"

"Tuvok, I'd be honored."

The Vulcan acknowledged the response and disappeared out of the room.

The Doctor must have been hovering someplace nearby, for he appeared almost immediately and released Voyager's first officer from sick bay, with strict instructions to avoid the mess hall at all costs. The stuff Neelix was billing as food that day was bad news for anyone whose digestive system could only handle items that even a Vulcan would call bland.

Happy to be free, Chakotay set off out of sick bay and went in search of his Captain. He had quite a few questions, and he was beginning to wonder if perhaps maybe he needed to exercise a little less control.

The End.

*If there be shadows, sing a song to their defeat*

* * *

[E-mail][1]

   [1]: mailto: jackeec@earthling.net



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